Having been outscored 12-1 in the past two ice hockey matches and now tied in the series at two games apiece. That dead quiet you hear on the West Coast tonight is the shocked silence of hard core Canucks fans and the vacuum of tens of thousands of bandwagon fans who have suddenly disappeared.

FOR HEAVENS SAKES VAN

This was the scene exactly 1 hour after the Game three loss on the streets of Vancouver. Can you see all the little people in the street looking bored and wishing they had someone to pepper spray into another dimension? That's the Vancouver Police, employed at great expense by the City of Vancouver to control the throngs of fans who showed up after wins in Games 1 and 2.

They were expecting Mardi Gras after Game 3 and instead got a live version of that show Life After People.

Somewhere in the last two games the Canucks have fumbled their opportunity to be Canada's team and the Canucks and their fans are getting ripped to shreds on websites, blogs and in the twittersphere all over the world. Many fans can't figure out why.

Here. We will give you our best guess.

TAKE IT FROM A LOSER-HARDCORE FAN

We consider ourselves to be a die hard fan of the Edmonton Oilers. As such our joy-misery experience can be best demonstrated with the graph above. We would literally give both of our eyes and one of our legs for the Oilers to have just blown a 2-0 2011 Stanley Cup series lead. We would kill any number of people just to get the Oilers to be swept in a single round.

Things are so dire of late that we actually tweeted Oilers D Ryan Whitney who indicated he was at the game in Boston tonight, telling him to "soak in the atmosphere so you will be ready for big Oilers playoff games soon."

What kind of loser does this sort of thing? The kind of loser that needs to keep hope alive by any means necessary.

TOO MANY OF YOU LOOK LIKE THIS

From the impossibly ignorant move of relighting the Olympic Flame on behalf of Canada to having only ghosts in the streets three games later. How can a City run so hot and cold at the exact same time? It is this idea of bandwagon jumping apathy mixed with the high handed belief that you are "Canada's Team" that is driving so many into the waiting arms of the Temporary Boston Bruins fans.

Part of the fun of living and dying with a hockey team is that you earn your dizzying highs by experiencing many terrifying lows. You are with them for the ups and the downs all the way through and that is the experience that makes a die hard fan.

There are tons of hard core Canucks fans we have encountered on twitter and in real life who are in complete shambles tonight. Good hard working types who can recall struggling through the days of Corey Hirsch and Ed Jovonovski in the hopes that the Canucks would one day win the Cup.

They remember the failed Mark Messier experiement when Veteran leadership was brought in at an extremely high cost to put the team over the top in the late 1990s only to see an expensive trip to the bottom of the NHL.

Now here they are in what should be their finest series in the past 17 years and they are spending half their time defending their team and half their time defending their fellow fans. These folks deserve a Cup more than a great many hockey fans in Canada.

Besmirched by the newly minted Canucks fans that show up by the tens of thousands only to disappear into the ether hours later, they deserve better than this. The City of Vancouver - arguably one of the finest places in the world - deserves better than this.

Hell even the Vancouver Canucks deserve better.

Enough is enough fair weather Canucks fans. Don't run away into your million dollar condos, fresh fish restaurants and movie sets. Come out into the streets and support the Canucks on the eve of an absolutely monumental Game 5.

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This spells out EXACTLY the quandary I'm in. Obviously I hate the Canucks with a fiery, burning passion weather they're losing to the upstart Edmonton Oilers 4-1 in game 81 of the regular season or losing to the Big Bad Bruins 8-1 in game 3 of the Stanley Cup finals. But I do know a handful of people that have been legit Vancouver fans for longer than I've known them. They suffered through the Cloutier years. They know that Corey Hirsch had the Bates house from Psycho painted on the side of the mask. They know why Kirk McLean is so revered outside of the fact that he was on the NHL 95 cover (getting scored on by the Rangers in the finals no less). And it's those guys who I wouldn't get the blood curdling urge to kill if the Canucks won the cup. In fact I might actually feel genuine happiness seeing them being genuinely happy.

ON THE OTHER HAND, I know far, far, far, far, far, far, FAR more people who only cheer when the Canucks are winning, and are INCESSANTLY annoying about it when they're winning in the playoffs. Most of them have no idea who Stan Smyl or Richard Brodeur are, have no idea who "that guy on the statue outside Rogers Arena" is, and think the Green Men are HILARIOUS. Those are the people who I wish would disappear forever. Those are the people who don't deserve to celebrate the Canucks winning the cup. Those are the people who will forget about this even happening in 5 years. Those are the people that ruin it for everyone else.

Apparently most of the Canucks "fans" watching the G4 broadcast at Rogers' Center cheered when Luongo got pulled. Now, I'm all in favor of watching that guy get shelled, but come on. You don't cheer your own team getting beat in the effing Stanley Cup Final.

Yet one more reason to hate that franchise with, as jeanshorts said, a fiery burning passion.

Although I did have this thought the other day; We are talking about a franchise that has literally won zero things in their 40 year history, outside of the Presidents Trophy this year. So that kind of makes sense as to why a majority of the fan base only gets around to cheering when they're winning, cause they've been let down so many times before. Maybe finally winning a cup will turn some of these bandwagonners into legitimate fans. Not very likely, but it COULD happen. It's a theory in the very least. A shoddy one, but a theory none the less.

How the heck does a CHILEvision pic make it to Oilers Nation article?? And why just because I'm Chilean does any little spec of something from Chile excite me??

Knowing a few hardcore Canuckleheads...they are the quiet ones not going to the streets but watching the games from home and away from the "noise". And as I left my brother in law's house today he said "I'm not listening to the radio tomorrow either"

it took every amount of energy to not enjoy the destruction - I was a guest of course :-)

it is sad in this town how an die hard Oiler fan can climb up the "keep the faith" chart at warp speed. Nothing has been accomplished to date..both teams square of in a Best of 3 with Vancouver still holding the edge........for now :p

Are you forgeting how dirty that team is. There probably gonna win the cup but oh boy do I enjoy seeing them speechless and without an answer to the big bad bruins. As an oiler fan, you build a hatred towards kesler, burrows, bieksa, and pinky and the brain so I'm soaking up every minute of this. And don't forget they've done something grimy in almost every series(seabrook,marleau,horton) so in closing go oil, and go bruins

Oh, sweet Jesus, these last 48 hours have been impossibly sweet. Watching replays of Luongo whiffing and convulsing in shame brings about the kind of pleasure my elementary school teacher warned me would result in blindness. But I digress. I am an Oiler fan. What other teams do, and what their fans do, I care little except when they are playing the Oilers, in which case, I despise them. The higher the stakes, the greater the passion. Except....okay, here's an example. I'm on a plane in April, flying back from Phoenix. It is early in the playoffs, the Canucks are leading the Hawks. And a loud-mouth doofus in a Kesler jersey is pontificating loudly in the seat just in front of me to his unfortunate captive neighbour that the 2011 Canucks are "probably the greatest team in NHL history". I kid you not. The guy he is spewing to gently suggests a team has to win something to earn that kind of accolade. The nucklehead loses it, insisting "There is no way the Canucks will not win the cup this tear!!!" Admittedly a small sample to extrapolate from but that is my take on the entire canuck worldview. Arrogant. Utterly lacking in humility. Chippy. Self-pitying. Ignorant of perspective and hockey history. I can't imagine I would ever feel the same way about a Buffalo Sabre fan, and they have been around as long as nuckleheads and won as much. Hell, I'd probably feel some satisfaction for that team if they ever won. But not Vancouver. Not now. Not ever.

There is something off with the Canucks potentially winning the Stanley Cup, which is why I want them to lose. The Canucks have always looked better as basement dwellers. The NHL will come full circle when teams once again dress their backup goalie against the Canucks in the playoffs.

Tim Thomas has been nothing short of incredible. Making wacky stops, laying monster hits, and fighting with skaters in the blue paint. He might have dethroned the Dos Equis guy as the Most Interesting Man in the World since the playoffs started.

No Henrik. No Daniel. No PP. No chance of winning. Cliche time. Your best players have to be your best players. I haven't seen anyone else on the Canucks willing to step up and take this team on his back. It seems that the rest of the Canucks are waiting for Daniel and Henrik to do something. If thats the case the Canucks are done.

Apparently most of the Canucks "fans" watching the G4 broadcast at Rogers' Center cheered when Luongo got pulled. Now, I'm all in favor of watching that guy get shelled, but come on. You don't cheer your own team getting beat in the effing Stanley Cup Final.

Yet one more reason to hate that franchise with, as jeanshorts said, a fiery burning passion.

There's a video of fans cheering in Vancouver and Luongo's reaction in the media on sportsnet.ca

Thats gotta be an awesome feeling knowing your local fanbase cheers when you get pulled.

Roberto "Next Question" Luongo is signed to play for the Vancouver Canucks until the end of days.

That's almost a reason to feel sorry for them.

I can get behind the idea of a "Canada's team" when it is a plucky underdog who is making a run despite the odds being stacked against it (Flames 04, Oilers 06, and even Montreal last year). Don't get me wrong, as an Oiler fan you'd never see me wearing Habs or Flames attire but I've been known to rock my Ryan Smyth 2002 Olympic jersey in support of other teams.

A front running team that won the President's trophy only to have thousands of fans materialize out of the woodwork does not get my support. The fact that most of the Canuck fans I meet rank high on the douchebaggery scale also is a factor that influences my position.

Every team that has success has folks that jump on and off the bandwagon. If they act like clowns when doing so, they deserve to be mocked. Vancouver's bandwagoners seem much more over the top than most.

I feel for the hardcore hockey fans in Vancouver. We know they exist (there are hardcore fans in Atlanta) but I can't possibly support a team with such wanton bandwagon tendencies.

@ jeanshorts

NHL 95 is and will always be the best hockey video game of all time. I will not be entertaining counter arguments. Any posts the the contrary are invalid.

Thought from the game last night: Shot totals are overrated when it comes to trying to tell the story of who was carrying the play. The CBC insisted that Vancouver was playing 'a good road game', when clearly they were hemmed in their own end for a majority of the game. Boston was getting high quality chances, and Vancouver, not so much. Bostons shot total would have been much higher had Vancouver not blocked so many shots.

Tim Thomas has been nothing short of incredible. Making wacky stops, laying monster hits, and fighting with skaters in the blue paint. He might have dethroned the Dos Equis guy as the Most Interesting Man in the World since the playoffs started.

This spells out EXACTLY the quandary I'm in. Obviously I hate the Canucks with a fiery, burning passion weather they're losing to the upstart Edmonton Oilers 4-1 in game 81 of the regular season or losing to the Big Bad Bruins 8-1 in game 3 of the Stanley Cup finals. But I do know a handful of people that have been legit Vancouver fans for longer than I've known them. They suffered through the Cloutier years. They know that Corey Hirsch had the Bates house from Psycho painted on the side of the mask. They know why Kirk McLean is so revered outside of the fact that he was on the NHL 95 cover (getting scored on by the Rangers in the finals no less). And it's those guys who I wouldn't get the blood curdling urge to kill if the Canucks won the cup. In fact I might actually feel genuine happiness seeing them being genuinely happy.

ON THE OTHER HAND, I know far, far, far, far, far, far, FAR more people who only cheer when the Canucks are winning, and are INCESSANTLY annoying about it when they're winning in the playoffs. Most of them have no idea who Stan Smyl or Richard Brodeur are, have no idea who "that guy on the statue outside Rogers Arena" is, and think the Green Men are HILARIOUS. Those are the people who I wish would disappear forever. Those are the people who don't deserve to celebrate the Canucks winning the cup. Those are the people who will forget about this even happening in 5 years. Those are the people that ruin it for everyone else.

The best possible outcome in my mind is for Boston to win the cup in a game 7 romp. Something like 5-1 going into the 3rd.

There is nothing worth cheering for on this team. I can honestly say that if Alexandre Burrows was on my team, I couldn't cheer for them until he was gone. Same with Maxim LaPierre. Burrows deserves only to watch another team celebrate a SC victory. Kesler is getting into that territory with me too. Take a punch at Chara then back peddle like crazy to get away from him.

I think the writing is on the wall though. Boston and Chicago have shown Vancouver's challenge. If you bully them, they cave. I do think that if Kesler weren't playing hurt it'd be closer.

Uhhhhhhhh Did Gregor write this under Wanye's name or mayyyyybe wanye watched Eberle's first goal a couple times too many last night and got a little emotional.

Personally, even after seeing hardcore canucks fans crushed this week and I do feel their pain. Them being up 2-0 is like the oilers being up in GM1 and thinking......nevermind

Point is, I HATE their team. They are the worst collection of skaters known to man. They play the game, "the wrong way" and when I see that beast among girls, Tim Thomas, I fall in love with that team. After CHI, I think Bos is now my 3rd favorite team.

And as some canuck fan had to say last night on 1040, "And Henrik, he gets slashed and hacked and puched and just stands there like a MORON" this really entertained me. Go broooooons

Uhhhhhhhh Did Gregor write this under Wanye's name or mayyyyybe wanye watched Eberle's first goal a couple times too many last night and got a little emotional.

Personally, even after seeing hardcore canucks fans crushed this week and I do feel their pain. Them being up 2-0 is like the oilers being up in GM1 and thinking......nevermind

Point is, I HATE their team. They are the worst collection of skaters known to man. They play the game, "the wrong way" and when I see that beast among girls, Tim Thomas, I fall in love with that team. After CHI, I think Bos is now my 3rd favorite team.

And as some canuck fan had to say last night on 1040, "And Henrik, he gets slashed and hacked and puched and just stands there like a MORON" this really entertained me. Go broooooons

Agree, shame on those Vancouverites for even thinking they belonged in Lord Stanley's game.

SHAME ON THEM!

I hope the city of vancouver goes into a deep recession due to this series, the streets become baron, and mass chaos ensues in the underground world they are forced to live in.

Uhhhhhhhh Did Gregor write this under Wanye's name or mayyyyybe wanye watched Eberle's first goal a couple times too many last night and got a little emotional.

Personally, even after seeing hardcore canucks fans crushed this week and I do feel their pain. Them being up 2-0 is like the oilers being up in GM1 and thinking......nevermind

Point is, I HATE their team. They are the worst collection of skaters known to man. They play the game, "the wrong way" and when I see that beast among girls, Tim Thomas, I fall in love with that team. After CHI, I think Bos is now my 3rd favorite team.

And as some canuck fan had to say last night on 1040, "And Henrik, he gets slashed and hacked and puched and just stands there like a MORON" this really entertained me. Go broooooons

Ya I want vancouver to lose as much as anyone here, but is anyone else at least a little bummed that it means that Seguin wins the cup before Hall giving all the Seguin lovers an extra meaningless argument when they try to say that he's better than Hall when hes clearly not?
(I say meaningless not referencing Lord Stanleys mug as being meaningless just that Seguin has had such a small hand in taking them there that that argument has no merit in this player vs player debate)

While golfing last night I was listening to the game on my BB using Tune in Radio. John Shorthouse was starting to plant the seeds of doubt last night by mentioning that Luon8o had let in 12 goals on 46 shots or something. He didn't sound like the "home town" play by play guy.

I also heard on the broadcast that EA sports has correctly picked the winners of every series so far? EA has pick Vancouver in 7, maybe they will be wrong this time!

Ya I want vancouver to lose as much as anyone here, but is anyone else at least a little bummed that it means that Seguin wins the cup before Hall giving all the Seguin lovers an extra meaningless argument when they try to say that he's better than Hall when hes clearly not?
(I say meaningless not referencing Lord Stanleys mug as being meaningless just that Seguin has had such a small hand in taking them there that that argument has no merit in this player vs player debate)

Sequin is in the playoffs? Don't you have to average more icetime than @BizNasty2point0 for it to count?

How do you BOOO your own goalie in the finals???? That is BRUTAL. Oh by the way, did anyone else hear that Loungo was stripped of his GOLD METAL? Ya, he was on HAIRoids!!! I hate that guy, that is why I want them to LOSE! And Tim Thomas, PLEASE PLEASEPLEASE move to Edmonton! Even if he looks like the guy from the Hangover, he is AWESOME!!!!

Each day my hate for the Canucks grows. Each game I find a new reason to hate them even more. I hate their players, I hate their GM, I hate their coach, I hate their fans, I hate their faces, I hate their smell, I hate their wives, I hate their Grandparents and I might even hate hate their children.

Atta boy Bruins... Show them Canucks who really has the dominant team... Better goaltending, stronger team and dare I say faster when the Bruins show up.... I called this Bruins in 6 to start with and I hold to that... The Canucks won't win another game and the Bruins are in Luongo's head, much like the Hawks were for the last two years until their series with them this year.

Besides, technically, I bet if you looked at it there are more Canadian players on Boston than VanCity anyways. :)